Saluyot dresses and talahib bags on Bagong Habi, Salinlahi Fashion Show

Natural tropical fabrics from all over the Philippines got their time in the spotlight at the “Bagong Habi, Salinlahi: Cutting Edge Philippine Textiles” fashion show at the InterContinental Hotel Manila. Spearheaded by the Philippine Textile Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PTRI), the show featured fabrics made of native Philippine plants, from old standards like piña, abaca, and banana to newly-developed fabrics made from water hyacinth, saluyot, and maguey. The fabrics were also dyed using natural plant sources: mayana, guava, mahogany, achuete, indigo, talisay, and coconut husk.

Fabrics from all over the Philippines were there to represent local cultures and craftsmanship, including piña and jusi from Aklan, hablon from Iloilo, and inaul from Maguindanao. Philippine Fashion designers, industry bigwigs and textile industry stakeholders attended the event. On display were garments using the eco-friendly textiles, from cocktail dresses to office uniforms, and even bridal wear. As models came down the catwalk, an audio-visual presentation showed step by step the manufacture of the fabrics. One process they undergo is enzyme treatment to eliminate itchiness and produce a softer drape. “Bagong Habi: Salinlahi aims to iron out all misconstrued perceptions towards indigenous fabrics that they are impractical, itchy, uncomfortable and drab,” said DOST-PTRI director Dr. Carlos Tomboc. Thanks to this process, the fabrics also no longer need to be dry-cleaned but can be laundered in the regular way.

“Bagong Habi: Salinlahi is all about making new, innovative and world-class textiles and a showcase of designs for different facets of life, said designer Anthony Cruz Legarda, the show’s creative director. “It is synergistic—it was made possible through the collaboration of individuals who are passionate about our own culture, natural resources, and great talent in manufacturing.” The PTRI also helps promising designers with their craft. One of them is 22-year-old Kristal de Guzman, who has found use for the lowly talahib.  “I was driving home to Laguna when I saw it on the road and thought, ‘Hey, why not use it for the fabric?’” she said. A student of Fashion Design at the School of Fashion and the Arts (SOFA ), de Guzman knew that the PTRI provided technical weaving assistance to designers. She contacted the institute, from whom she learned talahib is not suited for yarn manufacture. However, it can be incorporated into the fabric through hand-weaving.

With PTRI’s assistance, de Guzman wove the talahib and interlaced it with polyester threads. The fabric was used as the main material for handbags. The bags were also trimmed with detailed wood carvings from Paete. De Guzman’s design made it to the finals for the accessories category of “Weaving the Future: A Social Design Competition”, a show led by the Fashion and Design Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in November.

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Techno Infusion with Ethnic Philippine Fashion

WOVEN piña and jusi of Aklan. Inabel of Ilocos Norte. Hablon of Iloilo. T’nalak of Lake Sebu. Hinabol of the Higaonons in Bukidnon. Inaul of Maguindanao. Textiles from the Cordilleras and Abra. And the colorful fabrics of the Yakans and Maranaos of Mindanao. All in neo-ethnic designs that draw inspiration from master weavers, dyers and artisans. All to propel Philippine textile into high Philippine Fashion and every day wear.

"It will provide the needed boost to ethnic textile production, to infuse fresh waves of ideas and concepts that makes these traditional textiles, designs and production updated, competitive yet still culturally relevant," Dr. Carlos C. Tomboc, Director of the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), told Malaya Business Insight. Local and natural are the buzzwords: fibers from plants woven into traditional wear that have lasted centuries are turned into what PTRI calls neoethnic fashion. "The idea is to evolve ethnico textiles into mainstream fashion in view of their eco-character and novelty representative of local heritage and an embodiment of the labor of people who perpetuate the craft," said Jeannie Lynn J. Cabansag of PTRI’s Research and Development Division.

The PTRI, a part of the Department of Science and Technology, has developed technologies on Philippine tropical fabrics as well as dyeing and printing technologies using natural plant sources, and finishing including application of enzymes that make tropical and ethnic fabrics less itchy, less coarse and more wearable and easier to keep for a longer time. Enzymes are eco-friendly microorganisms; some varieties can be used to soften fabrics as well as remove itchiness in fabrics. Enzymes are household chemicals common, for instance, in detergents. "Product development, training and promotion add premium and value to revive ethnic textiles and turn them into cosmopolitan form and use, spreading the technologies to other textile producing communities and larger markets," Cabansag said. "It is a fusion of science and age-old art and craftsmanship."

Ethnic textiles are fabrics distinctively produced by a certain tribe, community, locality or ethno-linguistic group that has become a part of its identity, culture and heritage. Although in some places ethnic textiles have been revived, their production has either slowed down or even ceased, Tomboc explained. Ethnic textiles identified with specific places, like the piña of Aklan, have gained prominence in mainstream fashion when Bench, a leading Filipino apparel company, used them in its 2009 Philippine Fashion Week show. Ethnic prints are included in its spring and summer collections.

It is part of the "revival" of Southeast Asian textiles normally used as traditional costumes, re-created into contemporary looks and featured in the collection of fashion designers like Dries Van Noten, Givenchy Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Diane Von Furstenberg. Then there is the green thing. Standards for dyeing textiles are getting stricter as Oeko Tex 200 imposes limits on the effluents and the amount of extractable metals and compounds in textiles. To minimize pollution, Oeko Tex 200 limits, for example, the allowable amount of textile finishings, including dyes, that provide acceptable colorfastness. Textile coloration accounts for a substantial percentage in textile waste water.

"Our niche are ethnic textiles using eco-friendly, natural, low-impact dyes that are also superior and safe," Tomboc said. Synthetic, petro-based dyes now color most textile because of the great ease and more cost effective dyeing techniques involved. However, the health hazards of continuous exposure to synthetic dyes has made natural dyes attractive. Azo dyes, which are potentially cancer-causing, has been banned in Germany and selectively banned in other European countries.

The European Union’s policy on REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of Chemicals) regulates dyed materials and the manufacture of synthetic dyes. It requires the declaration of content and composition, for example. "The trend in going organic and natural puts local hand-woven textiles in the mainstream," said Cabansag.

The revival and upgrading of traditional dyeing technologies that are cost effective started in the 1990s in Abra and Ifugao where dye-producing plants were cultivated in nurseries. The first of PTRI’s Common Service Facility (CSF) was established in the region. The nurseries provided the plants that produced the dyes, and the CSF supplied local dyers with colorants and processed the fabrics with the coloration required.

Nearly a decade later, another CSF was established in Aklan, this time at the Aklan State University (ASU) campus in Banga. It provides basic dyeing facilities for private enterprises and helps start up companies adopt color application. ASU also looked at the appropriate cultivation of four priority dye sources: indigo, sibukao, yellow ginger and annatto that were introduced to local planters.

"The propagation, planting and cultivation of dye species offers alternative livelihood to farmers and weavers alike," Tomboc pointed out. "Propagating and planting natural dye sources are already business ventures." "Surplus production can even spill out of Aklan to address the needs of other natural dye facilities elsewhere in the country. A dyeing facility is very strategic when located near clients and users," he added. The CSF in Aklan has gone beyond commercial-scale, large-volume application of natural dyes on piña-based fabrics. It is processing crude aqueous extracts into powder, extending the potential applications of natural dyes to six months.

Not only could these powders be used for dyeing garments but also for hand- and silkscreen painting. It is a viable alternative to textile coloration, design and product development. Laboratory trials show that the relatively short shelf life of the aqueous dye extracts are extended when in powder form without sacrificing purity; no preservatives are added. Packaging technology has been developed for easy handling. Aklan’s CSF is the only one in the country processing several plants into powered dyes although indigo powder production is being done in Baler, Aurora, which supplies small volume requirements. PTRI will showcase its tropical fabrics during the "Bagong Habi ...Salinlahi" fashion show on March 8 at the InterContental Hotel in Makati.